Rotary machine



May 7, 1968 lFiled oct. 22, 1965 vwl B. A. GREN ROTARY MACHINE May 7, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed oct. 22, 1965 B. A. GREN ROTARY MACHINE May 7, 1968 filed oct. 22, 196s 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,381,668 ROTARY MACHINE Bengt Assar gren, Stromsund, Sweden, assignor to Svedia Dental-Industrie AB, Enkoping, Sweden, a Swedish joint-stock company Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 501,796 Claims priority, application Sweden, Oct. 23, 1964, 12,778/ 64 4 Claims. (Cl. 12S-8) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to a rotary machine such as an engine, a pump, or the like in which within an outer housing three eccentrically arranged cylindrical members are mounted longitudinally of said housing and being eccentrically disposed so as to provide working spaces therebetween and an end cover having supply and exhaust openings communicating with said openings, said end cover being rotatably adjustable to shift said openings relative to said working spaces.

This invention relates to a rotary machine adapted to be driven as an engine or pump, which machine comprises a housing wherein a cylinder barrel and a rotor are mounted in such an eccentric relationship to one another that there is the smallest possible clearance between the external surface of the rotor at one side and the inner surface of the cylinder barrel, the rotor being provided with longitudinal grooves wherein rotor blades run with the smallest possible clearance, said rotor blades extending axially between the closed end surfaces of the cylinder housing, so that between the rotor blades following one another working spaces are formed the volume of which changes at the rotation of the rotor, said working spaces communicating by holes, slots or the like with inlet and outlet chambers defined between the cylinder barrel and the housing.

In conventional machines of this type the guided control of the discs during the rotation of `the rotor was effected by more or less complicated devices, for example of the type wherein the blades are pressed out by spring pressure to the inner surface of the cylinder. Such devices, of course, operate with high friction. In other machines use is made of the centrifugal power, in which cases a satsfactory sealing is obtained first after a certain speed is reached.

The invention has as its object to produce a machine of the said type wherein the rotor blades in a simple and effective way are forcibly guided into abutment against the inner wall of the cylinder barrel, irrespective of the number of revolutions of the machine, i.e., already from the start.

Another object of the invention is to produce a machine wherein the operation can be divided into several steps both when the machine is employed as a pump and as an engine. The said -main objects are achieved in that the rotary machine according to the invention is characterized in that the rotor is tube-shaped, the rotor blades extending through the grooves in the rotor into the interior of the rotor, and that within the rotor is mounted a cylindric body or sleeve to which the inwardly turned edges of the rotor blades abut, the said body or sleeve being dirnensioned such, that the rotor blades thereby forcibly are pressed out with the smallest possible clearance to the inner surface of the cylinder barrel.

In a preferred embodiment the interior of the tubular rotor wherein the edges of the rotor blades abut to the cylindric body, is provided with holes, slots or the like 3,381,668 Patented May 7, 1968 ICC connecting the working spaces formed between the rotor blades following one another in the rotor with inlet and outlet chambers of the housing or with separate inlet and outlet chambers. Hereby an additional working space is formed in the interior of the rotor, which working space can Ibe connected in series or parallel with the outer working space in the cylinder barrel.

When the machine is driven as an engine, according to the invention an ignition device for a combustible gas mixture to be fed to the machine can be arranged in the cylinder barrel or in the interior of the rotor, in which case a check valve is mounted in a duct wherein the gas mixture is directed from the cylinder barrel to the interior of the rotor, or vice versa. Thereby, the one working space is used for pro-compressing the gas mixture which through said duct is directed to the other working space where it is ignited.

According to the invention the rotor blades preferably are shaped as cylindric bodies from which ltwo planeparallel portions are cut olf on each side of the longitudinal axis, so that the edges of the blade are given a suitable convex curvature.

In a special embodiment of the invention the housing and the cylinder barrel are closed by a cover at least at one end, the end surface of the housing being provided with two holes to the inlet and outlet chambers of the housing, the said cover having three holes whereof the central hole is connected to an inlet and the two outer holes to outlets, the said cover being mounted rotary, in such a manner, that the inlet hole can be placed directly in front of one of the holes in the end surfaces of the housing and one of the outer holes directly in front of the other hole in the end surface of the housing. By such an arrangement, thus, the inlet and outlet can be caused to change their places and, for example, the direction of rotation of the machine be reversed.

Further advantages and characterizing features of the invention appear from the following description wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings showing preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section through a rotary machine in which the principles of the invention are applied.

FIG. 2 shows a section along the line II-II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a similar section as FIG. 2. into which is drawn an imagined coupling of the outer and inner working spaces in the cylinder and within the rotor.

FIG. 4 -shows a section through another embodiment along the line IV-IV n FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 shows a section along the line V-V in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows in a schematic manner a section through a modied embodiment of the vinvention subject matter employed as an engine.

As appears from the longitudinal section in FIG. 1, the rotary machine according to the invention comprises a cylindric housing 1 having a bore wherein a cylindric barrel 2 is enclosed. The bore of the barrel 2 is arranged eccentric in relation to the bore of the housing 1 which, for example, can be achieved by a longitudinal ange 3 on the barrel. The said flange is dimensioned such, that the surface of the barrel directly in front of the flange 3 abuts sealingly to the inner peripheral surface of the housing when the barrel is inserted therein. Thereby the flange 3 divides at the same time the space formed between the internal peripheral surface of the housing and the external peripheral surface of the Ibarrel 2 into two chambers 4 and 5 (FIG. 2) which in axial direction are closed by an end wall 1a (FIG. 1). In addition to the bore for the barrel 2, the housing 1 further comprises an elongated portion which also has a bore and forms casings for the bearings 6 and 7 wherein the shaft 8 for a rotor 9 mounted in the cylinder barrel or cylinder 2 is rotatably supported. The outer bearing 7 is held in the housing 1 by a grooved ring 10, and between the bearings a distance sleeve 11 is inserted. The rotor 9 is preferably mounted concentric with the axis of the housing 1 and, thus, eccentric in relation to cylinder 2, the dimensionsof the rotor 9 being such, that at one side there is the smallest possible clearance between the rotor and the inner cylinder surface of the barrel (FIG. 2). The rotor 9 and rotor shaft 8 are preferably made in one piece, in such a manner, that the portion constituting the rotor 9 proper is tubular and provided with longitudinal grooves 12. The number of the grooves may vary according to desire, but they must be at least three. In the embodiment according to FIGS. 1-3 the grooves are four in number. In each of the grooves a rotor blade 13 is arranged with the smallest possible clearance between the surfaces ofthe blade and the groove. The rotor blades 13 extend in axial direction with the smallest possible clearance to the inner front wall of the housing in the one direction and to the inner surface of `a cover 14 closing the housing and the barrel in the other direction. The cover 14 is preferably secured by a nut 15 to the housing 1. The rotor blades 13 are preferably designed such thatplane-parallel portions are cut off on both sides `of the longitudinal axis of a cylindric body whereby the `longitudinal edges of the rotor blades are given convex shape.

By means of the rotor blades 13 the interior of the barrel or cylinder 2 is divided into working spaces 16, in the embodiment shown four in number. Upon Athe rotation of the rotor, whether it is driven, for example, over the belt pulley 17 or in that a combustible gas mixture is ignited in the machine which is described below, the volume of the Isaid working spaces 16 will increase and decrease (FIG. 2). For maintaining the rotor blades 13 in permanent contact with the inner surface of the cylinder 2, a cylindric body, or in the embodiment shown a sleeve 18 is arranged within the tubular rotor 9, the said sleeve being dimensioned such, that the blades 13 thereby are forcibly pressed out with the smallest possible clearance to the inner surface of the cylinder 2. For the supply and removal of the medium by which the machine is operated, slots 19 and 20 are provided at suitable places in the surface of the cylinder 2, by which slots the interior of the cylinder 2 communicates with the chambers 4 and 5 between the cylinder 2 and the housing 1 and which, thus, form outlet and inlet chambers, or vice versa.

For the supply and removal respectively of the medium to and from said chambers 4 and 5 the cover 14 is provided with inlet and outlet openings which in principle may be arranged in several diferent ways, according to the employment of the machine. In FIGS.` 2 and 3 two f different embodiments are shown. As appears from FIG. 2 eachrof the chambers 4 and 5 is provided with a hole 21 and 22 for supplying working medium to the said chambers and for removing it therefrom..The cover 14 which closes the chambers is also provided with holes, which holes coincide with the openings 21 and 22 of the chambers. The cover 1,4, furthermore, has a hole 23 ,indicated by dash-dotted lines in FIG. 2, all of said holes in the cover and the housing having the same division. Of the holes in the cover the central one can be connected as inlet for the working medium, the two outer holes being connected to a common outlet or each hole to its outlet. The cover 14 is `mounted rotary in such a manner, that each of the outer holes in the cover can be brought to coincide with the corresponding hole 21 or 22 in the wall 1a of the housing. In FIG. 2, thus, the inlet of the cover 14 is positioned directly in front of the hole 21 and one of its outlet holes directly in front of the hole 22. Hereby the chamber 4 is` made the inlet 4chamber and the chamber 5 the outlet chamber. Upon turning the cover in the counterclockwise direction, so -that the hole 23 of the cover which is connected to the outlet coincides with the opening 21, Athe chamber 4 will become the outlet chamber, and the chamber 5 will be the inlet chamber when the opening 22 coincides with the inlet opening of the cover. It is, of course, also possible to connect both of the outer holes to the inlet and the central hole to an outlet, if such arrangement is desired.

As appears from FIG. 1 the inlet in the cover 14 is provided with a pipe socket 31 and both outlets open into a common pipe socket 32 surrounding said pipe socket 31. To these pipe sockets can be connected an inlet and an outlet hose 33 and 34 respectively, the inlet hose 33 being disposed Within the outlet hose 34. The said hoses, thus, are adapted to supply and lead away the working medium of the machine.

The aforedescribed arrangement involves the advantage that the machine when it is applied as an energy transforming motor for a gas or liquid, can be caused easily to change its direction of rotation by turning the cover 14, so that the Ioutlet and inlet openings change their place. The turning movement of the cover is preferably to be limited by suitable means (not shown) between the positions in which the outer holes in the cover coincide with the openings 21, 22 in the housing. When the machine is employed as a pump, the ow direction can be changed in a simple way without having to change the direction of r-otation of the machine.

FIG. 3 shows another arrangement of the inlet and outlet openings. Upon the rotation of the rotor working spaces 35 will be formed also in the interior of the tubular rotor 9 between the inner surface of the rotor and the outer surface Iof the cylindrical body or sleeve 18, the said working spaces changing their volume during the operation and being separated from one another by the portions of the rotor blades 13 projecting into the interior of the rotor 9. As the rotor always rotates concentric with the axis of the housing 1, outlet and inlet holes 24, 25 may be provided at suitable places in the inner surface of the cover 14, which holes lead into the working spaces in the interior of the rotor. As shown in FIG. 3 the said inlet and outlet holes 24, 25 may be connected in parallel with the inlet 21 and outlet 22 of the outer working spaces 16. In the embodiment shown the working medium is supplied and lead off by pipe sockets 26, 27 leading into the chambers 4 and 5. The flow direction of the working medium appears from the arrows indicated. The medium first ows in through the inlet socket 26 into the chamber 4, continues through the slot 19 in the cylinder 2 into the outer working space 16 through which it passes and flows out through the outlet socket 27. Another portion of the working medium ows through the hole 21 in the cover through a channel in the cover or an outer pipe connection 29 indicated by dash-dotted lines in FIG. 3, continues through the opening 25 into the inner working space 35 in the interior of the rotor 9 and ows out through the outlet hole 24 through the channel or pipe connection 28 to the outlet socket Z7.

By a connection of this type the advantage is gained that in a machine loperating as a pump the volume capacity increases substantially at a certain machine size. When the machineis operated as an engine, the torque obtained for a certain machine size increases.

In a third alternative the holes 21, 22 and 24, 2S are connected in series to the outer and inner working spaces respectively (not shown), in which case the machine can be utilized as a two-stage pump, for example as a twostage compressor for gas, the outer working chamber 16 preferably being used as the' first stage. When the working direction of the machine is reversed while maintaining the same connection, the machine can also be used as an evacuation pump (vacuum pump).

A fourth alternative is to connect the inlet and outlet holes 21,22 and 24, 25 individually to the outer and inner working chambers (not shown), in which case the outer or inner working volume can be utilized as an engine driven by gas or liquid flowing through, and the working volume as a pump.

The -fourth alternative also renders it possible to employ the rotary machine as a combustion engine with an entirely independent work cycle. In this case the connection according to the third alternative above can be used, i.e. the two working volumes being connected in series, in which case, for example, the outer working volume 16 is utilized for sucking in and compressing a suitable combustible gas mixture. The gas thus compressed is directed via-a .pipe or channel with a check valve A to the inlet of the inner working volume 35. Immediately after the gas mixture has passed the check valve it is ignited by an electric spark or anothersuitable means B. The igniting should preferably occur every time when one of the rotor blades has, passed the inlet to the inner working chamber. The gas which expands yduring the combustion, thus, causes 'the rotor to rotate, and the combusted gas can leave the interior of the rotor 9 via the outlet hole from the inner working volume 35.

Another imaginable embodiment of the rotary machine employed as an engine is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. This engine comprises a housing 41 wherein a rotary shaft 42 is mounted by means of bearings 43, 44. An eccentric 45 made in one piece with the shaft 4Z is mounted by rolls 46 in the inner sleeve 47 against which, as shown in the aforedescribed embodiments, the inner edges of the rotor blades 48 abut. The outwardly directed edges of the rotor blades abut in the same way against the inner surface of the cylinder barrel 49. The blades 48 extend through grooves in a stationary guide body 50 which in this embodiment corresponds to the rotor in the aforedescribed embodiments and may be made in one piece with the housing 41, as shown in FIG. 5. The said body 50 also includes a portion of channels 51, 52 for the supply and discharge respectively of fresh gas and waste gas respectively, as will be described in the following. The housing 41 yalso comprises feed lines 53 for fresh gas.

The arrangement described operates in the manner as follows: Through the inlet 53 enters a combustible gas mixture, 'for example from a carburetor or injection device, the interior of the cylinder barrel 49 in a working space S4 formed between two of the blades 48, i.e. the working space 54a having the greatest volume. This is achieved in that the inlets 53 to the working spaces are arranged on a common division circle, in such a manner, that the cylinder barrel 49 upon its oscillation only projects over one inlet 53 at a time (FIG. 4). Due to lthe fact, that the shaft 42, eccentric 45 and bearing 46 rotate in operation in the direction indicated by arrow, the inner sleeve 47 is caused to oscillate. This oscillating movement is also transferred to the cylinder barrel 49 by means of the blades 48 displaceably mounted in the body 50. By this movement, thus, the working spaces 54 defined between the cylinder barrel 49 and the guide body and blades 48 will continuously change the volume, and also the inner working spaces 55 defined by the inner sleeve, the inner periphery of the guide body 50 and the blades 48.

The outer Working spaces, thus, compress the gas mixture entering at 53. When the compressed volume is the smallest in the working space 54e and 54d (FIG. 4), the portions of the inlet channels 51 arranged in the guide body 50 and blades 48 coincide, whereby the combustible gas mixture is directed into the inner working space 55a. At the same time the waste gases from the preceding working space 551c are discharged through the coinciding portions of the channel 52 to an outlet 56 in the rotor. The outflow from every inner working space 55 can occur individually, or outs-ide the housing 41 a collecting pipe (not shown) may be arranged for all of the outlets 56. The gas mixture flowing into the working space 55a is ignited in a later phase, for example in the working st-age 55b or 55C. Thereby the channels in the guide body 50 and blades 48 do not longer coincide, but the gas expansion effected by the ignition causes the inner sleeve to continue its rotation in the shown direction of rotation. The combfusted gas is blown out when the portions of the waste gas channel 52 in the guide body 50 and blades 48 again coincide, as described above. Thus, during the oscillating movement of the cylinder 49 and the inner sleeve 47 the Working chambers will operate in turn, which results in an extremely uniform power or impulse distribution which in the embodiment shown corresponds to that of a l2-cylinder four-stroke engine (six power irnpulses per revolution). i

When the machine/is operated as an engine, the smallest possible consumption of fuel volume is desired. In the engine schematically shown in FIG. 6 regard was paid to this desire by designing the rotor blades in the manner shown. As appears, the rotor blades 60 occuy not less than 50% of the volume in the engine, which volfume otherwise would have been consumed without any use.

As appears from the above description, a rotary machine is achieved which includes several advantages over known machines of this type. The machine may be applied as a pump or engine. In both cases the capacity of the machine can be increased in a simple way without increasing its size, by utilizing an inner working space. The direction of rotation or the feeding direction can be reversed in a simple manner without help by external means such as gears or the like. The embodiments shown are only examples of theinvention, and a great number of other embodiments can be imagined within the scope of the inventive idea as it is set forth in the above description.

What I claim is:

1. A rotary machine, such as an engine or pump, comprising a housing wherein a cylindrical barrel having closed ends and a rotor are mounted in an eccentric relationship to one another so that on one side there is the smallest possible clearance between the outer surface of the rotor and the inner surface of the cylinder barrel, the said rotor being provided with longitudinal grooves in which rotor blades run with the smallest possible clearance, said rotor blades extending axially between the closed ends of the cylindrical barrel, so that between rotor blades following one another working spaces are formed, the volume of which changes in the rotation of the rotor, said working spaces communicating by openings with inlet and outlet chambers defined between the cylindrical barrel and said housing, said rotor of said rotary machine being tube-shaped, the rotor blades extending through the grooves in the rotor into the interior of the rotor, and a cylindrical body mounted Within the rotor against which the inwardly turned edges of the rotor blades abut, the said cylindrical body being dimensioned such, that the rotor blades are forcibly pressed out with the smallest possible clearance against the inner surface of said cylindrical barrel, the space defined lby the tubular rotor wherein the inner edges of the rotor blades abut against the cylindric body being provided with openings connecting the working spaces formed in this space between the rotor blades following one another with the inlet and outlet chambers of the housing, and means connecting the inlet and outlet ducts from the space in the interior of the rotor and from the cylinder barrel respectively, and wherein in the cylindrical barrel is arranged, an ignition device for a combustible gas mixture to be fed to the machine, and wherein in a line by which the gas is directed between the cylinder barrel to the interior of the rotor, a check valve is mounted.

2. A rotary machine comprising a housing wherein a cylindrical barrel having closed ends and a guide body, are mounted in such an eccentric relationship to one another than on one side there is the smallest possible clearance between the outer surface of the guide body and the cylindrical barrel, the said guide body being provided with longitudinal grooves in which blades extend axially between the closed ends of the cylindrical barrel so that 7 Working spaces are formed between blades following one another, the volume of said spaces `changing upon the relative movement between the cylinder barrel and the guide body, in which rotary machine the relative eccentric mounting between the cylinder barrel and the guide body is effected by an inner` sleeve mounted eccentrically within the guide body on a central shaft in the machine, which sleeve by way of blades imparts to the cylindrical barrel an oscillating movement whereby the rotation of the machine shaft causes a change of the volume of the working spaces dened by the guide body and the cylinder barrel and the inner sleeve and blades respectively.

3. A machine according to claim 2, wherein in the guide body and blades, channel portions are `arranged which, when the blades are pressed as far as possible into the guide body, coincide in line and thereby form complete channels connecting the inner and outer working spaces and the inner working spaces and` atmosphere respectively.

4. A machine according to claim 3, wherein in the inner working spaces are arranged ignition devices for a combustible gas mixture to be fed to the machine through References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 449,821 4/1891 Nash 91-56 1,661,599 3/1928 Booker 123-16 2,033,218 3/1936 Yirava 103-136 2,073,101 3/1937 Fox 91-56 2,192,660 3/1940 Johnson 10a-136 2,808,780 10/,1957 Hoekstra 103-117 2,827,857 3/1958 Esorkolo 10s-136 2,916,999 `12/1959 chrisronson 10a-130 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,458 1912 Great Britain.

DONLEY I. STOCKING, Primary Examinez'.

WILBUR J. GOODLIN, Examiner. 

